New sheriff swears in his employees

PETER GUINTAStaff Writer

Published Tuesday, January 04, 2005

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ST. JOHNS COUNTY SHERIFF DAVID SHOAR, right, swears in a St. Johns County Sheriff's Office deputy on Monday. Shoar was sworn in by a judge earlier in the day. Deputies are sworn in every time a sheriff takes office or is re-elected.

By JUSTIN YURKANIN, Staff Newly elected St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar was sworn into office Monday morning, joining his 650 deputies and employees who also are required to take the oath again.

Shoar said this ceremony is part of a tradition.

"There's a lot of history to this event," he said. "We began on New Year's Eve at midnight. While everyone else was watching the ball come down, we were raising our hands and swearing in."

On Monday, he gathered a group inside the County Auditorium for a large-scale swearing-in. They included detectives, deputies, supervisors, undercover officers and correctional officers, as well as evidence clerks, file clerks, crossing guards, volunteer bailiffs and other non-certified personnel.

Lt. Sharon Harrell of the Human Resources office said the swearing-in was necessary because Shoar is the constitutional officer.

"These are his deputies," Harrell said. "He's swearing them to support and defend the Constitution. They aren't deputies of a county department. They're deputies under his authority."

Shoar tried to make the group feel more at ease.

"For the first time in 20 years, you have a new face up here," he said.

The Sheriff's Office has 339 certified officers, deputies permitted to carry firearms and make arrests. They swore to "well and faithfully perform the duties of deputy sheriff."

Shoar posed for photographs with each person sworn in Monday.

"We tried to set this up so we were working around their schedule," he said.